Yeah, Brad Meyers thought his ride — at least with the organization that drafted him — was over, kaput after several injury-plagued seasons.

It's a big, ugly moment in the life of a professional athlete when he accepts that his dreams of continuing said career — especially without reaching the pinnacle — have faded to black.

But that moment, despite the autumn tease, has not yet come for Meyers. And he hopes, again, that he will outrace it for a long, long time.

Fate put him back in a Harrisburg Senators uniform this year, nearly three full seasons removed from his last appearance on City Island.

When he left here in May 2011, Meyers was firing darts, mowing through hitters left and right.

He continued a productive campaign at Triple-A Syracuse, compiling a combined and career-high 138.2 innings at his various 2011 minor league stops.

Meyers' big league moment, it seemed, was right around the corner.

YANKEES COME CALLING

The Nationals selected Meyers in the fifth round of the 2007 draft out of Loyola Marymount University near his hometown in Orange County, Calif.

He quickly progressed through the lower levels, reaching Harrisburg for the first time in 2009 and putting the finishing touches on a brilliant season (11-3, 1.72 ERA over 24 games) and earning Washington's Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors.

But he was back in 2011, earning his jump to Syracuse after posting a 2.48 ERA in six starts with the Senators that included an incredible 38 strikeouts without issuing a walk.

Following a solid stint with Syracuse (6-5, 3.48 ERA), the Nationals decided against putting him on their 40-man roster, which left him susceptible to another club snagging him in December's Rule 5 draft.

View full sizeBrad Meyers spent a lot of time thinking, or studying financing, or trying to shut everything out during his injury-plagued 2012 and 2013 seasons with the Yankees and Nationals.JOE HERMITT, PennLive, 2010

INJURY BUG BITES AGAIN

In short, the way Rule 5 works is the drafting team must keep the draftee on its 25-man (big league) roster throughout the next season. If not, that player is sold back to his original organization.

The disabled list plays a role, though, as a player can be kept but stored away on the big league DL until he's ready.

That was the theory with Meyers, who entered spring training with shoulder discomfort.

Cashman called him in before a spring training game and told Meyers he wouldn't be traveling north with the team when camp broke. Instead, he'd stay at the spring training facility in Tampa, Fla., and work through his shoulder issues.

"I never felt a pop or anything," Meyers said. "I just started throwing, and it wasn't feeling good at all. You know when that fifth day comes around [for a starting pitcher]? Well, I wished it was seven or eight [days]. That's when I knew something was wrong."

Doctors discovered a torn labrum, which actually isn't that rare among a pitching populace that repeats an unnatural motion for years and years.

But Meyers' version was bad enough to require reconstructive shoulder surgery in May 2012, and he was shelved for the rest of the season, having made only a single relief appearance for the Yankees' High-A Florida State League team, allowing eight runs in just 1.2 innings.

New York kept him on its disabled list all season, but then shipped him back to the Nationals when it was over.

OFF-FIELD STRUGGLES WORSE THAN ONFIELD

Recovery from such shoulder surgery is generally a 12-month process, but Meyers entered the 2013 season optimistic that he could rally sooner.

That optimism, unfortunately, was misplaced.

View full sizeWhen Brad Meyers was injured in 2010, he remained with the Harrisburg Senators, traveled with them, worked out with them. He was mostly on his own during extensive rehab time in 2012-13.JOE HERMITT, PennLive, 2010

In addition to the shoulder recovery, Meyers began experiencing back pain. It probably goes without saying that back pain can be a major hindrance for a hopeful major league pitcher.

"I couldn't get that whip," Meyers said. "I wasn't getting any velocity [down from 88-92 mph on his fastball to 83-84]. They were like, 'Don't worry about it.' And I wouldn't if [the body] felt good, but it didn't feel good."

He spent nearly the whole season at the Nationals' Florida facility in Viera, making only two brief rehab starts with the rookies in the Gulf Coast League.

"You go down so many times, you get kind of mental about it," Meyers said. "Like, what else can happen? It's hard not to lose it."

Meyers wasn't just experiencing physical pain, but he watched helplessly as his once-promising career seemingly slipped through his fingers.

"It's a bad place to be," he said. "It's your job. It's not a hobby. Everybody's like, 'It's just a game.' Well, unfortunately it's your life, the one you picked. And if you can't do your job the way you want to, you're not going to be a happy person."

Self-described as a cynical person, Meyers relied on his girlfriend's positive attitude to help pull him through. But it was never easy. He'd told his parents to stop asking about baseball. He just didn't want to face it.

"You have to rely on other people, but for me it's kind of weird," he said. "I like to go crawl in a little hole and feel sorry for myself sometimes. And it's like people around you are trying to pump you up, but I don't know."

Meyers joked that his best friends in the organization were trainers, "which probably isn't a good thing."

Doug Harris, a Nationals' assistant general manager with a focus on player development, underwent not one but two similar shoulder surgeries during his days as a minor league pitcher in the 1990s. The second one killed his career.

"When you're injured, you feel detached," Harris said. "You feel you're not part of the system, part of a team. Learning how to control those emotions and channel them in the right direction is an important thing."

Harris remembers, after his first surgery in August 1992, the bizarre feeling of watching televised games from his home in Carlisle and scouring box scores in the newspaper.

"You miss it a ton," he said. "It makes you really appreciate the opportunity you have and what it means to you in your life."

AN UNEXPECTED REPRIEVE

Beaten down by nearly two full years of inactivity despite his figurative business card reading "Professional Pitcher," Meyers began preparing for life after baseball.

He'd already earned a Bachelor's degree in marketing from Loyola Marymount, and he spent a lot of his down time during rehab studying financials. He decided he would pursue his Master's degree.

Assuming he was no longer under contract with the Nationals, he made that phone call to the organization — 90 days after the season ended — asking for the COBRA insurance.

The voice on the other end was confused.

"What are you talking about? You're still with us for another year," it responded.

A shot of joy hit Meyers, who was thinking his only chance to continue a career in baseball was to work out for a few teams and try to capture one's interest.

Instead, he was still under contract.

And, guess what? The rest of him was starting to feel better.

As Harris explained: "In some ways maybe the time off allowed his body to be in a better place. Through the process of any arm surgery, you have a chance to improve your body and learn a lot about what you need to do on a regular basis."

A RETURN TO METRO BANK PARK

Meyers went into 2014 spring training still dealing with some relatively minor back problems, and when camp broke in early April, he remained in Viera at extended spring training.

But this time he saw his way through it.

A month into extended spring training, Meyers, now 28 years old, got word he was headed back to Harrisburg.

"That was such a great feeling just to be able to make it back after I felt like I had to start all over again," he said. "I hadn't been that excited in a while. To finally make it back here — not quite the level where I want to be, as it's not the big leagues, but it's Double-A. It's a good place to play."

He says he's still only 80-85 percent of the way to where he wants to be, health-wise, but he's producing.

Sunday vs. Bowie, Meyers picked up his first win since Aug. 31, 2011, and overall he's 1-2 with a 4.86 ERA through four starts.

"The biggest thing for anybody coming back from any kind of injury is we're looking to keep them healthy and get them through the season," Senators pitching coach Chris Michalak said. "You don't put so much emphasis on results.

"His attitude is great, and when you have that attitude, sometimes it takes some of the pressure off of you, and you're able to perform better. I think he's able to enjoy the ability to go out and compete now."

That's absolutely true, Meyers said. The extended time off changed him not only as a man but as a pitcher, at least mentally.

"Stuff still bothers me, but I've learned to deal with it better," he said. "Just being out there now is awesome. I'm not going to say I care less about my outings, because that's not true. But I just learned to deal with it better.

"And I want to keep going and keep pushing and get back to where I think I should be."